A Little about Me

I am a professional freelance photographer, operating out of Tucson, Arizona. My specialties include weddings, portraits, headshots landscapes and nature, with weddings being my main specialty.

I was born in the Netherlands. At age five, my family and I immigrated across the pond to the United States. I grew up, living in Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, where I became a naturalized U.S citizen.

Photography entered my life on or around my twenty-fifth birthday. I was on a small island off the coast of Belize. My brother in law, Fred Dodd Jr., a wildlife photographer, invited me to come along, with some college professors and biology students, doing research there. It was a beautiful place, but primitive. Snorkeling, fishing and admiring the scenery were the only things to do. With about seven days to go before we were to embark the island, Fred offered to let me burrow one of his Nikon cameras.

To this point, I was always a reluctant photographer. I felt that life should be experienced, not observed, but after snapping a few slide photos of one of the most amazing sunsets I had ever seen, I realized how much it meant to me, to be able to capture that moment and relive it over an over.

When I got back to the states, I rushed to purchase my own Nikon Camera and immediately went to work. My earliest endeavors would be as a landscape and nature photographer. I received inspiration from early photography pioneers like Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Win Bullock and others. After taking a few crash photography courses at nearby Dean College, I went on a cross-country expedition to visit and photograph as many national parks as I could. During this period, I developed a special fascination with the American Southwest, where I eventually would move to years later.

Shortly, after I returned to Massachusetts, I had a chance meeting with Craig Roberts, a local photographer and studio owner, in nearby Franklin. In those days, I lived, ate and breathed photography, to anyone who would listen. I had no idea who I was talking to, at first, only that this person was as passionate about photography as I was. Later, when his full identity became known to me, I asked him if I could tag along for some weddings. I showed him my landscapes, and, amazingly, he agreed to let me assist him with his next wedding. I went on to become an employee of Craig's and, eventually, the main wedding photographer for his studio, a capacity I served in for five years.

In 1995, I formed my own business in Bellingham, Massachusetts and succeeded to photograph hundreds of weddings throughout New England. Business was going well, but life behind the scenes was not quite as glamorous.

The street where I lived had gone through years of zoning of changes. Parcel after parcel were turned over from agricultural to industrial. Residents and I spent years fighting to maintain the quality of life on our street. When those efforts fell largely on deaf ears, I decided to move my life forward, further west, to a region I had long loved - the American Southwest.

In late 2004, I relocated to Tucson, where my sister and family decided to settle, a few years earlier. Since bringing my business here, I have photographed about 150 weddings, approximately 400 overall. Weddings are a beautiful thing. There is nothing that says "I love you" more than when two people, willingly and unconditionally, commit to spend the rest of their lives together. It is a great blessing to be repeatedly invited to capture the moments of one of the happiest and most memorable days in the lives of two people. It never gets old.